The present invention relates to the field of surgical incision, excision and biopsy instruments. In particular, this invention relates to a surgical scalpel handle with an illuminator allowing the surgeon to use the scalpel handle to illuminate a surgical field immediately adjacent to and in advance of the blade and in the direction of cutting.
Physicians and surgeons use a scalpel handle to attach to a blade to cut human tissue for a variety of purposes.
Illuminating a surgical field in tight small spaces of the human body and immediately in front of a scalpel blade is challenging for a surgeon.
In the art, many sources of illumination are used. Typical Illumination is provided via an illuminator source attached to surgeon's headset, or held by a surgical assistant, attached to overhead ceiling, or provided using a lamp on wheels in the operating suite and this well known to the art. Prior art devices include clip-on LED lights and incandescent lamps for headwear, glasses with LED light sources with built in with batteries and hand held devices. Such constructions may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,483,651, U.S. Pat. No. 6,733,150, U.S. Pat. No. 6,999,248 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,566,139.
The limitations of the prior art is that none of the existing methods provide illumination immediately adjacent to the scalpel blade and thus the illuminated field is not optimized visually putting at risk unnecessary damage and severing of difficult to visualize neurovascular structures.
Additional limitations are that the sources of illumination frequently require an assistant to hold the source of illumination requiring additional cost to the surgery or hindrance to the surgeon by crowding the surgical field.
Additional limitations to illuminating a surgical field are that most sources require an additional power source that must be attached to either a battery pack or a plug for power. This limitation is also a hindrance to the surgeon in that the surgeon must work around these additional attachments and they are often obtrusive and limiting in portability and mobility. Additional disadvantages of the existing illumination sources are the significant cost and resources necessary to install illumination into outpatient exam rooms.
Accordingly, a methodology which overcomes the shortcomings of prior art is desired.
It is the object of the invention to provide a scalpel handle with an attachable light emitting diode (LED) cartridge containing a series of LED bulbs which can illuminate relatively uniformly the surgical field and can be manufactured relatively readily, and inexpensively.
The main object of the present invention is to provide a surgical scalpel handle that provides illumination immediately adjacent to and in front of a surgical blade.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a surgical scalpel handle that can provide illumination with an attachable light emitting diode cartridge which can illuminate uniformly the immediately adjacent surgical field without shadowing effects from the scalpel blade.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a surgical scalpel handle that can provide illumination using the handle as a source of illumination and removing the need for additional personnel to hold a separate lamp or require additional lamps in the exam room.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a surgical scalpel handle that can provide illumination using a dry battery and avoid the need for power cords that may restrict the movement of the surgeon or staff around the surgical field.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a surgical scalpel handle that can provide illumination that can be manufactured relatively easily and inexpensively.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a reusable non-disposable surgical scalpel handle that can provide illumination with a disposable attachable light emitting cartridge that can be replaced with a new disposable attachable light emitting cartridge.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable surgical scalpel handle that can provide illumination with a disposable attachable light emitting cartridge that can be disposed in the attached condition in their entirety after surgery.